The present invention relates to a printing apparatus for synthesizing an image scanned via, e.g., a scanner, and an image created based on print data and printing the synthesized data, an information processing apparatus for controlling the printing apparatus, and their control method.
Conventionally, upon printing an image, which contains image data captured by a scanner and print data described in, e.g., PDL (page description language) and transmitted from a host computer, the host computer temporarily captures the image data via the scanner, synthesizes the image data and PDL data, and transmits the synthesized data to a printer to print it.
However, when the scanner and host computer are connected via a network, if the data captured by the scanner has a large size, a heavy load acts on the network. Also, the host computer requires a large-capacity memory for storing image data, and data processing on the host computer requires much time.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a printing apparatus for capturing image data in accordance with an instruction included in print data, synthesizing the image data and print data, and outputting the synthesized data, an information processing apparatus for sending print data to the printing apparatus, and their control method.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus which can synthesize print data and scanned image data by a desired synthesis scheme upon reception of print data which includes an instruction pertaining to trimming and the synthesized position of image data to be synthesized with the print data, an information processing apparatus for sending print data to the printing apparatus, and their control method.
In order to achieve the above objects, according to the present invention, print data to be transmitted from a host apparatus to a printer is embedded with a command for synthesizing an image scanned by a scanner, and the printer executes the command to synthesize the print data and scanner data. In this case, an image scanned by the scanner is transferred to the host apparatus to preview-display that image on the host apparatus. On a preview display window, the operator selects a region of the scanned image to be inserted in an image formed by the print data.
Another arrangement for achieving the objects of the present invention is as follows.
That is, there is provided a printing apparatus comprising:
detection means for detecting a command for instructing synthesis between print data and image data from the print data transmitted from an external apparatus;
capture means for capturing image data when the detection means detects the command; and
synthesis means for synthesizing the image data captured by the capture means with an image obtained based on the print data.
Alternatively, there is provided an information processing apparatus connected to a printing apparatus which can capture image data via a scanner, comprising:
data transmission means for transmitting print data including a command, which designates an insertion region of image data, to the printing apparatus;
reception means for receiving image data, which is captured by the printing apparatus via the scanner in accordance with the command, from the printing apparatus;
display means for displaying the image data received by the reception means;
image data designation means for designating image data to be inserted into the insertion region, on the basis of the image data displayed by the display means; and
transmission means for transmitting a designation result of the image data designation means to the printing apparatus.
Also, there is provided an information processing apparatus, which is connected to a printing apparatus which can capture image data via a scanner, and is capable of creating document data, comprising:
capture means for capturing image data via the scanner via the printing apparatus in accordance with information of an insertion region of image data, which information is contained in document data;
display means for displaying the captured image data;
image data designation means for designating a selection region indicating a region of image data to be inserted in the document data on the basis of the image data displayed by the display means; and
print data generation means for generating print data, which contains information of the insertion region and selection region and can be interpreted by the printing apparatus, on the basis of the document data, insertion region, and selection region, and transmitting the print data to the printing apparatus.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.